


Dust Till Roses

by Stumblings



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 09:41:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15969710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stumblings/pseuds/Stumblings
Summary: “The other dogs snapped at him, and the tribes people threw stones at him. Before the chief could reach him, the tribe had torn Hohaku apart.” Nan’s Fable“After the studying the Chant with Sister Mallol, Nan always recited Hohaku’s fable to Fergus and I every night before bed. Never abuse your power–never bite the hands that support you. A Teryna or Teryn is only as strong as their weakest or humblest subject. The relationship forged between your monarch, peers and subjects is sacred and should be handled with care and diligence.However, for the first time my heart burns with unquenchable vengeance and hate–it’s all consuming, and feels as if I could never satisfy it’s growing hungry. Forsaking the vows and lessons Sister Mallol and Nan tried to teach me. I will take what has been stolen from me, even if means destroying a sacred bond.” –From the Journal of Joan Cousland on Betrayal of Highever.





	Dust Till Roses

“ I never understand what true pain and loss was– my parents had carefully constructed a beautiful world in which their children would never have to understand pain, suffering or the hideousness that lay beyond Highever walls. Fergus, Roland and I never felt the cold cruelty of our world until the warmth of my parents’ embrace was stolen from us.” Diary of Joan Cousland

She collapsed in the dewy fields, feeling the hot sting of tears pull behind her eyes. The salty sting dripped over her chapped lips as she watched her childhood home burn with betrayal. The flame turned her skin a brilliant shades of blue as it spit in rage at Highever winds that came through in rapid bursts.

The flame crawled towards the darken heavens, showering their vision with blues, reds, and oranges. It’s powerful roar barely hid the sounds of screams of the servants that fled Howe’s vile men. 

But her companion left no time to feel the horrendous heat or the strokes of color on the black canvas behind it’s mighty wake. She growled and ripped herself from the man’s large clutch throwing herself towards the fearsome flame. 

She swore in the destruction , she could see a person entranced by the castle’s once beautiful depths. It appeared to be a woman engulfed in flames, beckoning her to come closer. The flame licked at her out-reached arm causing Joan’s senses to be flooded with the scent of burning flesh. Joan felt a familiarity sink into her bones, she knew the woman. 

Again, she felt the heavy hand of her companion rip her from the flames and into the cool darkness. 

“There is nothing left girl, we must leave.” His firm voice echoed over the screams of the castle. 

“Mother!” She shouted in agony . “Please, Duncan.” She pulled harder against his well trained grasp. She struggled to get closer to the castle and the woman, “She is right there!” Joan yelped as he pulled further into the Highever woods. 

“Girl, listen to me… nobody is there.” He grunted pulling the still struggling girl in the cool, darkened woods. 

Joan cried out again as the woman disappeared in the angry flames, her dark leather boots sunk into the forest frigided mud as she tripped over a gnarled root. She slammed into the thick wet mud, fist clenched in the rich liquid gasping to catch her breath. Even in the darkness of the plentiful woods, she could see the bright orange rip through the Marker’s heavens. She buried her face into the ground, heaving heavily onto the soft earth. She gave a desperate moan as grief sunk into her chest for the first time. 

“We must leave.” Duncan tried to reason with the wailing woman. Without pity he pulled her from the muck and repeated himself, “We must go Ostagar, there you can tell the King of Howe’s treason.” He wrenched her to her feet taking in her bedraggled appearance. 

She bit her lip as she tried to focus on the elder man in front of her. Her vision blurred with tears as she tried to make out his face. 

In appearance, Duncan was nothing special, but his prominent mahogany eyes carried a certain calmness. A calmness that could only be obtained by years of hard labor spent by duty to an unattainable cause. He was older and his deep wrinkles seemed to carve a map of his life on his still agile and mobile facial features. His eye gleaned from under his thick chestnut eyebrows. His eyes were framed by a broken nose the loped to side and on his stubbled chin were raven whiskers. 

Joan carefully nodded, following the old warrior through the forest. “We go to Ostagar.” She tirelessly mumbled pushing herself through the jagged branches keeping track of the old warden. “To become a Grey Warden.” She squeezed her eyes together, remembering her father’s deal.

**Author's Note:**

> I re-writing a old fanfiction I've been to cowardly to post.


End file.
